Treasurer Jim Chalmers
Treasurer Jim Chalmers (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

The ABC’s Patricia Karvelas, Jeremy Fernandez and David Speers will anchor the national broadcaster’s coverage of Labor’s second federal budget on Tuesday, with guest analysis on cost-of-living measures, NDIS funding and what’s in it for the Voice. 

The panel will go to air shortly after Treasurer Jim Chalmers finishes his budget speech about 8pm, forming the centrepiece of the two-hour budget special, which producers hope will bring the package closer to Seven’s ratings dominance in October.

After Labor’s first budget, the Kerry Stokes-controlled network’s 6.30pm and 7pm news slots took first and second ratings spots with more than 840,000 viewers apiece. 

On Tuesday night, the ABC will try to lure viewers with first interviews with Chalmers and opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor shortly after 8pm, with analysis from 7.30 host Laura Tingle, political editor Andrew Probyn, and Insiders host Speers.

The panel hosts will be joined by business reporter David Chau, who the ABC says will walk viewers through corporate winners on the night, and Triple J’s Shalailah Medhora, who will grade the government’s response to the cost-of-living crisis, particularly as felt by young voters. Disability affairs reporter Nas Campanella will pick through the government’s NDIS commitments, and Voice correspondent Dan Bourchier will talk viewers through what funding the government has earmarked for the Voice to Parliament. 

From 9pm, the ABC will run an Insiders budget special from its new home in Canberra, where Speers will be joined again by Probyn and Karvelas and News Corp’s Samantha Maiden, Tom Crowley from The Daily Aus, The Australian Financial Review’s John Kehoe, and the ABC’s Claudia Long. Mike Bowers will host “Talking Pictures”, joined by AFR cartoonist David Rowe. 

Over at Nine, proceedings will kick off much later. Peter Overton won’t be joined by the network’s political editor, Charles Croucher, until about 9.50pm, when Croucher will get an interview with Chalmers, before giving viewers a taste of the opposition’s reply in an interview with Taylor. 

Nine will then do a budget breakdown for households in a segment led by finance editor Chris Kohler, which will include a rundown of “winners and losers”. Kehoe will also offer analysis through the evening. 

Nine doesn’t look likely to carry the treasurer’s budget speech live, but those interested can live stream it on the network’s news site. Chalmers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be back-to-back on Nine’s Today show live on Wednesday morning.

At SBS World News, budget coverage will kick off at 10pm on Tuesday after Dateline, with teams in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra contributing to coverage.

At Seven News, the efforts of competitors appear likely to give cause for concern — so much so that its plans for the evening haven’t yet been finalised, Crikey understands. 

For Network Ten, though, it’s still a serious affair, and producers are likely to be conscious of the lacklustre audience numbers The Project drew last time, when just over 260,000 viewers tuned in.

On the news side, Sandra Sully will host 10 News First’s rolling updates through the night, along with political reporters Stela Todorovic and Chloe Bouras. It says it will mobilise content creators to reach audiences on social media, including TikTok, to give users a “behind the scenes” look into the 10 News newsroom, along with bite-sized budget facts and spending summaries. 

The budget won’t be fully covered on 10 News until 5pm Wednesday, when hosts will “unpack … what it means to Australians”, and reporters will answer questions on the network’s Facebook page.